


i'm like falling water, set me free

by anothersadsong



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: F/M, Mission Fic, cassian is the king of pining, it's all backstory, possible hypothermia?, so much pining, we shall see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-23 20:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18709183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothersadsong/pseuds/anothersadsong
Summary: Hi, the-strongest-stars, it’s me, your May the Fourth gifter! Here is part one of two of your gift. I’m sorry, work got the best of me this past month, and I wasn’t able to finish it completely. I hope to have the rest of it up for you soon!So, without further ado, my prompt was water (but make it sexy), of which part one is ... not that. It’s all backstory. I’m so sorry.





	i'm like falling water, set me free

Adarlon.

The entertainment capital of the Minos Cluster. A haven for tourists and other visitors, no matter what pleasure they sought. From mountain getaways to beachside resorts, amusement parks and concert halls to seedier ventures like pleasure-droid parlors, Adarlon had it all. 

It was the perfect place for Enoban Anoz and Arani Ker to celebrate their recent handfasting. 

However, their alter egos - Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso - were not there for anything resembling the rest and relaxation they ignored needing. Adarlon, with its revolving door of new visitors arriving every day was deemed an acceptable location for a meeting with a skittish but vitally important informant who was supposedly bringing news of a new Death Star construction. 

Not just rumors, but actual facts, and hopefully a location.

More than most, Cassian and Jyn knew how imperative it was to destroy the monstrous weapon before countless more lives were lost to it. 

Their first meeting, set to take place inside the Glow Dome, ultimately ended up bust as the informant, nervous about being recognized, never showed. 

Later, through an encrypted channel, coordinates arrived for a resort located in one of the planet’s many mountain ranges with reservations attached, and since it was a lead well worth following, Enoban and Arani soon found themselves aboard a transport leaving Balderdash proper. 

There was no obvious hesitation when it came to playing their respective roles, but was a difficult for Cassian nonetheless. It wasn’t as though he and Jyn weren’t close - people couldn’t go through what they had without some sort of bond forming - but Cassian still wasn’t sure of what they were to each other, what they were trying to become. 

It had been slow going in the wake of Scarif. Cassian had woken up after numerous surgeries and bacta treatments to find Jyn at his bedside, holding his hand. He had made it a point to be there after every psych eval and meeting with the higher-ups to determine if Jyn was, in fact, fit to stay within the ranks of the Rebellion. 

That she even wanted to stay was a miracle in and of itself. But Cassian had meant it when he’d welcomed her home, and it seemed that maybe she had taken it to heart. 

But he couldn’t know for sure, because they never talked about the hardest topics. He didn’t really know how to breach them, and she didn’t seem to either, and life went on.

Cassian could trust that on missions, Jyn always had his back, and he hoped that she knew that he was always watching out for her as well. And when things went south, as they sometimes (inevitably) did, there was no one Cassian wanted fighting by his side with more than Jyn Erso and her righteous fury. 

In their rare downtime - when it was sometimes almost too quiet to bear - Cassian didn’t feel so certain anymore. They were partners, growing closer with every trip to the weapons range, every sparring match, every briefing they spent sitting side-by-side, their thighs touching underneath the table, a tingling sensation his only reminder when all was said and done and they had to part in order to attend to other duties. 

He didn’t know what to think in the moments that his skin prickled and he tore his attention away from whatever he was doing, only to find Jyn watching him intently. Cassian decidedly did not think about how his heart slowly beat back into life every time he caught her looking - 

And every time she caught him looking in return. There were so many facets to her, and Cassian was fascinated by even the tiniest glimpses he caught of them from time to time. 

No one would be stupid enough to call Cassian Andor a coward, but he certainly felt like one every time he lost the courage to talk to her while working on repairs together and he ended up hoping that somehow, she could tell from just an overlong glance or a lingering touch when handing each other tools what he was still too afraid to come out and say. 

But this was a perfect opportunity to say all the things that he had been holding back - that he thought she was strong and brave and fierce, that he found her as breathtaking in her brutality as he did her brokenness, that he didn’t want to fix her, but he hoped that they could find a way to heal together in time ... if they were granted it.

Thus far, though, it was Enoban showering Arani with affectionate gestures - holding hands or casually curling an arm around her shoulders, Enoban and not Cassian who dropped soft kisses to the top of her head just because - certainly not because he remembered watching his parents do the same, watched and wanted the same for himself what felt like a lifetime ago - as they walked and toured the resort and all of it’s amenities, Enoban who smiled and flushed as their guide insinuated that they take advantage of all the extras that were included in their very special honeymoon suite. 

And he couldn’t tell if it was Jyn or Arani who smirked knowingly and assured the guide that yes, they would. 

Once they had retired to their room - and swept it for hidden recording devices - Jyn and Cassian kept their distance. He studied his datapad busily, even though no new messages had arrived, not from Command, not from their informant. Jyn sat cross-legged in the center of their massive bed, muttering to herself as she examined a map of the resort in anticipation of the next morning’s meeting. 

“Show me where you’ll be again - “, she directed, glancing up from her datapad. “Just in case.”

Just in case. 

Just in case the informant had been followed. Just in case they got spooked and tried something stupid. Just in case something went wrong. 

Just in case. 

Cassian glanced up from where he sat and blinked. He sat still for a breath, and then another, the thought that Jyn wanted him to join her in bed more than enough to short-circuit his brain entirely. He watched as she observed him curiously, her lips turned up into a wry little smile until finally, his body began to respond to the request to get up and join her. 

The bed, he felt, was a huge, fluffy abomination, and he struggled to keep his balance as he crawled over the thick covers to reach her in the center of the bed where she had taken up residence. Although he had no choice but to sit close in order to examine the maps together, Cassian still tried to maintain a respectable distance between them.

He settled in with a sigh, raising his eyes to meet Jyn’s, not at all surprised to see how carefully she was considering him, although he did wonder what it was that she was thinking, if she felt the same as him if she thought about him like he thought about her.

But he didn’t want to stare or make her uncomfortable, so he cleared his throat and glanced down at the datapad in her hands. “May I?”, he asked, and she nodded easily as she turned it over. 

“The rendezvous point is here - “, he reiterated, pointing at the map, even though they both knew the specifics of the mission inside and out. 

Jyn’s arm brushed Cassian’s as she shifted positions, leaning all the closer as she pointed at the map next, singling out where his position would be located. Of course, as he inhaled sharply at the contact, all Cassian could pay attention to was the warmth of Jyn’s body as it rested gently against his. All he wanted was to curl an arm around her, press a kiss to her cheek as Cassian, not Enoban or any number of other aliases, look her in the eyes and tell her that she was no longer alone, that he could be her family if she wanted him to, that he … 

“And this is where you’ll be, watching my back from the best vantage point, as always.”

Cassian settled for nudging Jyn’s shoulder gently and nodding his agreement, all the while making a concentrated effort to commit the moment to memory.

***

The rendezvous didn’t go exactly to plan. And despite a handful of contingencies they had discussed - just in case - there hadn’t really been one put in place for getting caught in an unexpected ice storm while waiting for their informant … three hours later than they were originally supposed to show. 

Jyn and Cassian had prepared as best they could, including wearing insulated clothing, multiple layers, and boots, heating patches warming their most vulnerable parts, but there was no stopping the cold from leeching through anyway. Despite the discomfort, they held steady and waited. There likely wouldn’t be another opportunity to procure the information they so desperately needed, and if it came at the expense of their health, so be it. 

It wouldn’t be the first time. Putting their lives on the line to discover the whereabouts of the second Death Star almost felt inevitable. 

But when all was said and done, Jyn had procured a data chip brimming with precious information and their informant, having passed it on, tried to make a stealthy getaway through the ice and snow. 

Cassian stayed put in his nest, watching intently through his scope until Jyn sent the signal alerting him that the coast was clear. He watched her slow progress for a handful of minutes and then began packing his equipment so that they could meet up and retreat back to the sanctity of their suite. 

Despite the layers of insulated clothing and heating patches, it was cold - and Cassian knew cold. He also knew that Jyn wasn’t accustomed to such low temperatures and inclement weather. 

As it turned out, he had every reason to worry. She looked miserable and half-frozen when he finally reached her side, and Cassian wasted no time in setting his rucksack at his feet so that he could shuck his heavy jacket off and drape it over her shoulders instead in the hopes that it would offer her enough warmth to continue trudging through the storm back to the resort proper. 

She was flagging and he knew it. He also knew that it took a hell of a lot to take Jyn down so although she didn’t ask him for it (nor did she deny him), Cassian curled his free arm around her waist and held her steady as they slowly made their way down the mountain, the twinkling lights in the distance coming nearer and nearer with every step they took. 

On one hand, he was glad that the weather had taken such a turn so quickly that most of the other guests and staff had retreated indoors. There was less of a chance of running into anyone and having to answer questions about what they had been doing. The ‘bird-watching’ story they had agreed upon was only ever going to go so far. 

Once they stepped inside their room, thankfully much warmer than the outside temperature, Cassian breathed a sigh of relief. He led Jyn - shivering, teeth chattering violently, freezing - to the couch and helped her sit, pulling his jacket closed in the hopes that it would give her some semblance of comfort while he went about seeing to inserting the chip into his datapad and beginning the long encryption process. Then, and only then, could he turn his attention to Jyn, although he wanted her to be his main priority. 

A mission of this importance always had to come first. 

But once the transfer of information began, Cassian left it to continue on its own, sighing as he crouched in front of Jyn, searching her face with worried eyes. His jacket wasn’t going to be enough to warm her sufficiently. Neither was the fireplace, or the bedspread if he tucked her underneath it. 

Only one thing was going to help, and he’d have to get it started soon if he hoped to pull Jyn out of her half-frozen state. 

“Do you trust me?”

“Y - yes”, she replied slowly, struggling to find the words, to nod her agreement. 

“Good”, he answered, extending a hand. “We’re going to have to get in the shower.”


End file.
